The news of Batman appearing in the sequel to Man of Steel shook Comic-Con and the geek world a couple of weekends ago, and the reverberations of the announcement have echoed all the way back to 1986.

After writer David S Goyer hinted that the movie, rather than being titled "World's Finest" or "Superman and Batman" may in fact be "Superman Versus Batman," longtime comic book fans naturally started thinking about the seminal Frank Miller comic, The Dark Knight Returns. In the series, Miller pitted Batman and Superman against each other in an epic battle that saw Batman declaring his superiority over the man of steel, thanks to a little kryptonian help.

In fact, when Zack Snyder announced Batman's presence in the film, he had actor Harry Lennix read a quote from the series before revealing the now-famous logo interlocking the two heroes' famous symbols.

Superman - Batman Movie Logo

Credit: Warner Bros

Turns out, writer/artist Frank Miller noticed. According to a report by The Independent, Miller "had no idea the announcement was going to happen." But now that he knows, "he's going to be meeting up with Zack in the next few days to go over the plans for the Superman film." Now, take it with a grain of salt as the quote comes from "a source close to Miller," but it does seem likely that Snyder, a self-professed longtime fan of Miller and of Superman in general, would go to someone who so deftly told the tale of these two heroes' greatest clash. Whether the possible consultation will take on any kind of official role, or will just amount to a single lunchtime conversation, remains to be seen. The two of course worked together before - Snyder wrote and directed the big screen adaptation of 300, another comic written and drawn by Miller.

Snyder can also look a little closer to his Man of Steel team for help - Jay Oliva, who provided storyboard art for the movie and helped Snyder block out some of its major action sequences, also directed The Dark Knight Returns part 1 & 2, the two-part animated adaptation of Miller's story that came to Blu-ray and DVD in 2012. Oliva also directed Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox and the upcoming Justice League: War, in addition to storyboards for most of the modern DC Animated films featuring the two heroes.